The Arizona sentinel., 1887-01-01

Stone"-PainstakingW Weevils Riot
 ing In the Sea Biscuit-The
 - ''Dog Watch" Etc.
 The day's work may be said to begin at half past five in the morning with the operation of washing the decks. When the clock underneath the break of the poop pinaicates that time the ships bell is struck thrice; it is ..'three bells" As the sound dies away the boatswain ut- te rs>a stentorian Turn to-" and the hardy sailors prepare for toll. They firstiput down their pipes; for they have been,enjoyinga delightful smoke after the'cup of. dubious coffee served out to them,in their panikins at five o'clock. Then, if they-~ar Tn warm latitudes, they d vest themselves of their shoes and stockings, turn up their neither gar ments, and display to the eye of the ob- servers a lud crous variety of manly calyesa and bare feet. Two men, per haps, proceed to the pump and begin to fill the .wash-deck tub; three or four OlACAp d1lll AHCll1OC1NGc hliu DlOOulOy and there remain one or two sailors to pass along buckets of water for the boatswain to dash about. There is 8 peculiar art; only to: be- acqu red by considerable practice, in throwing a hRcketful of water on to the deck so that it may spread about properly. Cast from the professional arms of the boatswain, the water falls with a familiar smack just behind the bare footed mariners with their brooms. It sweeps playfully over their feet, and immediately they begin to scratch away as if they, were determined to de- stroy the deck. So bucket after bucket is dipped into the wash-deck tub and passed on to the boatswain. In some ships he uses, 3 ho e, and then more men are. able to apply themselves to the broems and scrubbers. If ship is nearing port and the captain wishes the decks to appear particularly white, cer- tafntarticles very familiar to seafarers are employed in the operation of clean ing. These are denominated, by some nautical freak of diction, "holy stones. n From the mere name we might imagine them to be the treasured fragments of some;@ classical sshrine, but in reality. they are mosts humble pieces of sand stone. about the size of, half brick. Poetry abandons the Nautical mind whensthe seaman es the holy stone Picture to yourself half dozen bronzed aud ,bare-foofed mariners, on their hands and knees, lugubriously scrub ping thesdecks with these stones, so that people ashore may eXclaim: ''How beautiful a shiR. looks"
 The men wash and scrub away until about 7:20. At this time tinge of hope and pleasure asserts itself in their minds; -the happy morning sleep of the watch qbelow-ther comrades of duty-is about to be destroyed Somebody goes to the ships bell and strikes it seven times; it is ''seven bells" Immedl- ately one of the scrubbing sailors runs with bare feet to the forecastle as if he had just heard some beautiful melody and was determ; ned to follow it to its source, But what does he do? He does this: Directly he enters the fcrecastle he breaks into the most abominable bathos. His sleeping com rades lie peacefully in their hunks around that unambrosial place. They sslumber, they dream; they are enjoying the end of their four hours respite from >ther tolls, yet this man enters Ike a vocal fiend of most violent discord to disturb them. He looks at them and he yells: ''Hi, you sleepers bells, here-show leg, comei' He continues in this straIn t Il he has uttered enough noise to awaken a dormouse in the T ,E Al. | wake up. as is only natural; they str in their hunks, relinqu sh their black blankets, and crawl on to their sea chests, thence to the deck. They do not trouble themselves with any trivialties of the toilet. Life is short, fresh water is precious, and personal appearance is a friYolity at sea. One of their number proceeds to the galley-the nautical kitchen-and receives from the cook a can of so-called coffee; this, together w tn sea biscuits, forms the sailors breakfast. The coffee is a black mystery stewed to distraction; the bis cult resembles an edible stone, tolerable as a curiosity, but monotonous as an article of daily d ct. Yet weevils are a painstaking race of infinitesimal crea- lures; they love to live and die in the sea biscuit As a hard hearted comestible it has no rival. A ga Tor takes one of the things from the bread barge" and smites it aga nst his knee; he repeats the process, but the biscuit is imperturbable; the man be- comes interested and crashes it against the corner of his sea chest; at last the ''pantile' breaks, and the mariner is able to breakfast. True, some of the biscuits are soft, but the weevils gener- ally find out this before the man. The nautical breakfast differs in various ships; in some the seamen are allowed a sort of porridge called "burgoo," or else a species of hash known as dob scouse." These are doubtless excellent in themselves; but the careless manner in which they are cooked detracts from theIr good qualities, Happily, the